Sleep-laughing – Hypnogely

Abstract

Abstract:Objective:To explain relatively common phenomenon of laughing during sleep and help to better define criteria for differentiating between physiological and pathological sleep-laughing.Methods:Observational study of patients who underwent a sleep assessment in a referential tertiary health facility.Results:A total of ten patients exhibited sleep laughing, nine of whom had episodes associated with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Also, in one of the patients sleep-laughing was one of the symptoms of REM sleep Behaviour Disorder, and in another patient sleep-laughing was associated with NREM sleep arousal parasomnia.Conclusion:The collected data and review of literature suggests that hypnogely in majority of the cases presents as a benign physiological phenomenon related to dreaming and REM sleep. Typically, these dreams are odd, bizarre or even unfunny for a person when awake. Nevertheless, they bring a sense of mirth and a genuine behavioural response. In a minority of cases, sleep-laughing appears to be a symptom of neurological disorders affecting the central nervous system. In these patients the behavioural substrate differs when compared to physiological laughing, and the sense of mirth is usually absent.

Hypnogely: A case report

“…seizures or stroke). 5 Although sleep-laughing seems to be reasonably frequent in older children and adults, there are no references found of the same in the neonatal age group. In a study of middle school children (parental report), sleep-laughing was reported to occur in 33-44% of the sample (with minor gender and age differences) at least once in 6 months.…”

“…Hypnogely could be associated with different neurological or sleep disorders, and could be seen explicitly in either REM sleep (as in REM sleep Behaviour Disorder, NREM sleep (NREM arousal parasomnia) or irrespective of sleep stage (e.g. seizures or stroke) 5 …”